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Listen Up! The Field Book is On the Air

There are many resources that surveyors can draw on, but nothing beats the advice and knowledge of a fellow surveyor.

That’s the bread and butter of Australia’s foremost, and perhaps only, surveying-focused podcast – The Field Book.

Each edition of The Field Book podcast casts the spotlight on a different member of the surveying profession. The aim of the podcast is to speak to a wide range of surveyors, young and old, in an effort to compare and contrast the differences – and similarities – that each generation of surveyor experiences.

Subjects range from the state of the industry, issues of governance, the government’s relationship with the profession… and even just good old-fashioned Aussie stories about working in the great outdoors!

While no two stories are completely the same, there are definite commonalities. What is particularly fascinating about The Field Book is that no matter where the podcast’s guests have worked – and no matter how diverse their backgrounds – a lot of the same subjects come up time and again across the podcast’s 20 episodes.

There are the similar challenges that surveyors rise to meet – whether it be difficulties around the government’s relationship with the profession, or some of the older technologies that used to give surveyors grief.

There are the similar rewards – getting to know interesting people, learning about fascinating concepts, and discovering new ways of advancing the profession.

There are the similar yarns – many of the most memorable stories come from work camp trips in rural areas.

And then there are the surprising stories. One surveyor, Mandy Compton, takes time during her chat to relay how she accidentally set a portable outdoor shower system to explode, sending gushing water everywhere. Another surveyor, Angus Scown, tells tale of being flagged by two police pursuit vehicles, culminating with police officers mistakenly pulling guns on him and his colleague because they thought they were going to perform a ram-raid with their land rover. Thankfully that’s not a story every surveyor can relate to!

With plenty of knowledge and experience contained within, The Field Book is a great listen for anyone who is studying surveying, has studied surveying, or intends on studying surveying.

This is an undeniably rich resource built on real and relatable stories, so why not take a peek through this window into the world of the surveyor?